The Hobbit Set to Start Production in June

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for The Hobbit? It appears so.

Production Weekly has the info that production on the Lord of the Rings precursor (that will split into two separate films) is set to start this coming June in New Zealand. Producer Peter Jackson stated this news in the closing months of last year. He also shrugged off earlier rumblings that the first installment had been pushed back to Christmas 2012 from 2011. Such troubles first came about due to the current sticking situation with MGM.

To be honest, it came off as someone playing the denial game (not unlike what Sony recently did with the Spider-Man 4 delay). But with the production planning a 14 month shoot (not unlike the trilogy before it), it appears old Pete was right the whole time.

Speaking of Spider-Man 4 with it suspended in purgatory at the moment, could this perhaps open up Tobey Maguire’s chance of playing Bilbo Baggins? That, if you’ll remember, was originally broken by Latino Review and as always immediately denied by everyone involved. Just saying...